Gold Nugget or Tango Tangerine?

simon_growApril 17, 2012

Hello everyone, just wondering which tangerine people prefer. Both are seedless and both are supposed to be sweet with a perfect amount of acidity and easy to peel. Has anyone tried both of these and which one do you prefer? A description of the taste would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I just purchased a tango tangerine this year. I had intended to get the golden nugget but the fruit from the one I tried at my local nursery was not very good. The texture was somewhat stringy and not terribly flavorful. The fruit was much larger than the tango though. The W. Murcott's were fantastic (tango is identical to W. Murcott but is seedless). The locally nursery was really pushing W. Murcott but the seeds really bothered me so we ended up with a tango.

So far the tango has rebelled the most strongly of the three citrus I planted this year. It has shown almost no new growth and lost many leaves so at least a minus one for vigor after transplant!

All in all I doubt it was a fair comparison. Golden Nugget has gotten good reviews and sometimes young citrus trees fruit is not the best. I doubt you'll go wrong with either! You should also consider seedless kishu if you like sweet fruit and don't already have one, they are delicious.

If you can squeeze both in, you'll have mandarins from Jan through to Aug! When Tango finishes up, the Gold Nuggets are coming ripe. And, the Gold Nuggets hold very well on the tree. And cayden, give your Tango some time. It's a slower to mature tree, tends to want to grow straight up and may need some pruning in the 2nd to 3rd year to encourage more side branching. And, continue to prune so you don't get these long whip like branches that will break, since it can be a very prolific producer. It also has a tendency to alternate bear, as many mandarins do. Both worthy of a spot in your garden. Just keep them pruned to size, and you can enjoy mandarins nearly year round. They are both just about equal taste-wise in my opinion.

I tried both - Tango from farmers market for several weeks in a row, and Gold Nugget from backyard trees many times. Both were very good. Tango seemed to be slightly more fibrous, but maybe I didn't hit the prime time.
Are you deciding which one to plant? I finally decided on GN. The semi-dwarf certainly is a little engine that can produce. My husband, who was not a mandarin person, likes the fruit so much we dug out a guava to put a second GN in.

Thanks for the encouragement. The tango is finally starting to look like it's recovering from the transplant shock. I'm anxious for it to start fruiting! I so wish I had the room you do for all those wonderful citrus :)

Thanks for the replies everyone, I actually picked up a Tango and a Golden Nugget last year but my yard is small and I could only keep one so I kept the Tango and gave the GN to my best friend that lives around the corner from me. I tried the Gold Nugget off a tree at the nursery but even though the guy said it wasn't quite ready yet and it was really bland and not sweet. Last week, I picked up some GN's at the Mira Mesa Farmers market and the GN's were Absolutely Delicious!!!

My Tango tree had 3 fruits on it this year and last week, I tasted the largest one and the flavor was kinda off and not too sweet, very similar to the GN that wasn't quite ripe yet. Then I went to the nursery and tried a very large Tango off their tree and it was very sweet with excellent tangerine acidity, similar to the best Cuties you can find at the markets. I remember reading that Tango is one of the varieties they use as Cuties.

I like both Tango and Gold Nugget and both can taste off if picked too early or late. If I could only pick one, I prefer Gold Nugget by the slimest of margins because it has a complex taste that is very reminiscent of "Dekopon/Sumo" mandarins. I will pick up another GN to replace the one I gave to my best friend and then I will have all three. Dekopon is my alltime favorite Mandarin.
Simon

Well, as much as I love the Dekopon, and right off the tree they're much, much better than what we can get at the store, but the mandarin that beats the Dekopon is the Seedless Kishu. By a lot. It is fantastic. The only reason it hasn't reached summit-like proportions like the Dekopon is due to it's size. It's very small. But, it is really seedless. As in no seeds. And, it was the most delicious mandarin of all the mandarins at the Citrus Variety Collection. And the trees showed it as nearly all the fruit had been picked off the two trees! The employees there love those two mandarins the best, too :-)

Again, Manuel. Start your own thread. Don't ask the same question on two other message threads. You're much better served with this forum by starting your own message thread, than tacking onto someone else's. I have answered you in another thread.

Hi Patty,
I agree with you that this is not the right thread to ask those questions, but I didn't write if I could contact directly with the people who owns such mandarins. But I don't have their email addresses.

I publish my personal email in case of anyone wants to contact with me. That way I won't disturb with my messages.
Sorry for the inconvinience.

It's not an inconvenience, Manuel, more that this forum's structure is such that starting your own thread is a better way to get your specific question answered. You can ask folks to email you directly if you wish. Up to you. Just how the Garden Web forum sort of works. If you start your own thread, and ask your specific questions, and ask for opinions from forum member who have the specific cultivars you have questions about, you'll get plenty of answers.